Perfect Moments
by Asher Cross
Summary: A little 4xDorothy fic I wrote...my first romance fic, so go easy on me!


TITLE  
Perfect Moments  
  
AUTHOR  
Asher Cross  
  
GENRE  
Non-Yaoi Romance (4x...uh, Dorothy ^_^)  
  
RATING  
PG  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"It's going to be a long, long day."  
  
Quatre Raberba Winner stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom, making sure his bow tie and suit vest were straight.  
  
Dorothy Catalonia entered the room and saw Quatre fiddling with the tie, twisting it one way and another.  
  
"Quatre, what are you doing? Just relax and get out there!"  
  
Quatre turned around. His sparkling blue eyes were wide with anticipation and nervousness. "You don't get it though. This party's going to involve the chairmen of several BIG companies. They'll all be mid-aged, and I'm not sure they'll take me very seriously."  
  
Dorothy reached around and straightened Quatre's tie for him. As she did, Quatre felt a strange...calm, a soothing feeling. *I'd never had this feeling around Dorothy before...*  
  
He thought about it for a minute before Dorothy stopped adjusting the tie, grasped his shoulders, and smiled at him. "There. All straight now. Now, go."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Relax! It can't be all bad! If you get in any trouble, I'll bail you out."  
  
Quatre felt Dorothy give a slight push to the small of his back, and he stepped forward and into the ballroom, where the crowd of tuxedoed men and sequin-dressed ladies danced and made small talk, likely about some insipid business affair.  
  
As he navigated along the sea of faces, he reflected on that strange, yet pleasant feeling he received from Dorothy's simple touch. *Dorothy and I have been friends since the end of the war, about 11 months ago, and she HAS changed quite a lot, opened up a little more, and I'm glad that she came to this party. But in all this time, that feeling has never happened. What is it?*  
  
His train of thought was brought to a screeching halt by the most bull-headed of brake levers-Jarvis Fairland, 21, young, handsome...and snotty to boot. The youngest of the businessmen besides Quatre, he topped all of them in the field of being the most ridiculously foppish man in business.  
  
Jarvis sidled up to him and said in his lilting voice, "Well, Mr. Winner. What a treat, I didn't think you'd be here."  
  
"Well, it IS my mansion."  
  
Jarvis gave an amused chuckle and ruffled Quatre's hair to further annoy him. "How adorable. Now run along, child."  
  
Quatre held his smile until Jarvis turned away, then it was wiped away by his immense hatred of the arrogant man.  
  
Dorothy appeared from the crowd and saw Quatre's angered face. Attempting to cheer him up, she walked over to him and took his hand. "C'mon, Quatre, wipe that frown off of your face! We've got some conversation to make!" She began to pull him along the dance floor.  
  
"Everyone's dancing, though."  
  
"Then we'll dance," Dorothy said, almost absently.  
  
They stopped at a spot on the floor, then Dorothy stopped while still pulling Quatre along, spun around, and ended up in his arms.  
  
"Doesn't seem like a bad idea." They began to waltz across the beautiful floor to the melodic tune of the string quartet.  
  
Every aspect of this party suddenly seemed better, brighter, more comfortable. The sparkling globe above their heads seemed to glow with , the violins and cellos in the string quartet sang a bittersweet tune that massaged his ears, and the beautiful girl in front of him seemed to smile a little wider. For that moment, he was in heaven.   
  
Then his trance was torn apart by the nasal voice of Jarvis Fairland slicing the air toward them.   
  
"May I have this dance, M'lady?"  
  
They stopped. Dorothy gave a nervous look at Quatre, and he sighed and said to Jarvis, "Of course." Their embrace ended, and at that instant Quatre felt like a piece of his heart had been ripped from him.  
  
As Jarvis led her around the dancefloor, Dorothy gave one last, longing look at Quatre before she was drawn away into the crowd.  
  
Quatre felt faint, his knees buckling. He regained a modicum of composure, enough to take a chair at the side of the ballroom floor.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As Dorothy danced with Jarvis, she had difficulty keeping up with him. He seemed to dance somewhat off-beat with the music, and several times had crushed her feet.  
  
Crush #19 happened a few seconds later, and she struggled to push away from him and decline as politely as possible. However, Jarvis pulled her closer to him, practically smothering her, their bodies too close for comfort, and Dorothy attempted to snake her way out of his uncomfortable embrace.  
  
Soon after crush #30, Jarvis whispered in her ear, "I need to talk with you. Shall we go upstairs?"  
  
Dorothy's eyes widened at the realization of what that meant. *Oh crap...he likes me! And he ACTUALLY wants to...Ugh! I gotta get out of here!*  
  
She was getting prepared to slide down and out of his embrace, but while shuffling around, she noticed something hard under his jacket.   
  
Something precariously shaped like a gun.  
  
Now she had no choice. She knew Jarvis from several earlier meetings, and knew that he would do anything to get what he wants...She was compelled by everything she held dear to push him away, and run for Quatre. *Quatre would protect me...* She was slightly confused about how that thought came to mind.  
  
Jarvis let go, but grasped her hand and let her up the stairs at the rear of the ballroom.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Quatre gasped in shock when he saw Jarvis Fairland lead a hesitant Dorothy by hand upstairs! He looked desperately into Dorothy's eyes, and caught a glimpse of her eyes connecting with his. She mouthed the word, "Help," and her eyes expressed her fear.  
  
He got up and began storming toward the staircase as Jarvis closed the door to the guest bedroom.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Once the door closed, Jarvis spun Dorothy around to face him, and Jarvis bent down and kissed her.  
  
Dorothy drew the line. *I don't care whether or not this pervert's got a gun, this ends NOW!* She squealed into his mouth, and tried to push him away.  
  
He wouldn't budge, so Dorothy's knee went for the soft tissue...  
  
"OOOOOHHHH!!!" Jarvis screamed, clutching between his legs, and falling to his knees as Dorothy scrambled away.  
  
Jarvis quickly recovered, and reached into his jacket.  
  
Dorothy yelled, "HELP! QUATRE! SOMEBODY!"  
  
Jarvis pulled the gun, and pointed it toward her...  
  
The door burst open, hitting Jarvis in the back as he pulled the trigger...  
  
The bullet whizzing way past target, hitting the mirror, ricocheting off of the mirror and the wall, and flying back to Jarvis...  
  
Hitting Jarvis in the leg, sending him to the floor, screaming.  
  
Dorothy looked up to see Quatre Winner in the doorway, the one who'd saved her life.  
  
She got up and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank God, Quatre! Thank you so much!"  
  
Quatre warmed, the feel of her arms around him soothing. He gave a look at the writhing Jarvis.  
  
Several people ran in the doorway, and their eyes widened at the sight of a bleeding Jarvis. They helped him up, and Jarvis gathered enough strength to point a menacing finger at Quatre and hiss, "You're going to be hearing from my lawyer in a few days!"  
  
"Could I just go get the gun and shoot him in the head?" Quatre said, jokingly.  
  
Dorothy gave a laugh, and tightened her embrace. "No, let him live with the pain."  
  
"Please?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A few hours later, Dorothy and Quatre sat on the balcony. After the incident with Jarvis, the party was called off, and they decided to reschedule it some other time...with Jarvis getting no invitation.  
  
Dorothy looked over to the stoic Quatre. "I just want to say thanks for what you did."  
  
"It was nothing. You did give me the wonderful dance."  
  
"Aw, come on, it wasn't THAT wonderful, was it?"  
  
"It was marvelous."  
  
Dorothy leaned on Quatre's shoulder. "Really? You're not just saying that?"  
  
"Believe me, I wouldn't lie to you. You're one of my best friends."  
  
Dorothy looked slightly offended. "Best friends?"  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I just thought...we were a little more."  
  
"I'm sorry, Dorothy. It's just...I'm so confused right now. Tonight, I started getting these...feelings that I can't explain."  
  
"I've had them ever since I met you, Quatre."  
  
"I've never heard that said to me before."  
  
Quatre looked into Dorothy's lovely eyes. *Lovely...* Their heads traveled toward each other, and their lips met.   
  
Quatre had never experienced anything like this...it felt so unnatural...and yet, pleasing.  
  
Dorothy's sweet kiss, the coolness of the wind blowing through his hair and hers, and the backdrop of bright stars contrasting a dark, seductive sky, combined to make this moment...  
  
Perfect...  
  
  
  



End file.
